by Anthony W. Hill & Course Technology 1 Product Evaluation Strategies and Support Standards Beisse

by Anthony W. Hill & Course Technology 2 Objectives How Product and Support Standards Emerged Common tools and methods support specialists use to evaluate and select computer products How organizations develop and implement support standards

by Anthony W. Hill & Course Technology 3 Product Standards Product Standards are list of hardware, operating system, network and application software that has been selected to meet the needs of users in an organization How Product Standards Emerged Product incompatibility Competition

by Anthony W. Hill & Course Technology 4 Problems Caused by Product Incompatibility 1. Limited Data transfer Example: difficulties of sharing data (using floppy) 2. Excessive parts inventories Example : chip from other manufacturer cannot be used by other 3. Lack of skills transfer Example : One staff is not familiar with other’s pc with different operating system 4. Increased support costs Example : To many software and hardware to support will increase cost 5. Hardware repair problem Example : Very difficult to repair and diagnose different hardware parts

by Anthony W. Hill & Course Technology 5 Development of Product Standards Companies standardized a few selected hardware platforms selected to meet users’ needs. They adopted standard operating systems, and in the 1990s, standard network operating systems. They limited the choice of applications software to a few standard applications packages in each software category.

by Anthony W. Hill & Course Technology 6 Methods for Evaluating and Selecting Computer Products Product evaluation: A process of researching and analysing computer product features, capabilities, and suitability to solve a specific user need Product evaluation process Collect product information Test, compare, and evaluate competing products Publish results

by Anthony W. Hill & Course Technology 7 Resources Available to Help Evaluate Computer Products Vendor literature, marketing information Web sites, and user manuals Product demonstrations and evaluation versions Product reviews and comparison articles in computer periodicals Opinions from industry experts available in trade publications and Internet news groups Software Evaluation copy – A CD (software) that the features can be tested for free for a period of time ( 1 month)

by Anthony W. Hill & Course Technology 8 * Product Evaluation and Decision-making Tools 1. Industry standard or best-selling products 2. Products used by competitors 3. Benchmarks 4. Weighted point evaluation method 5. A request for proposal (RFP) 6. Acknowledged subjective criteria

by Anthony W. Hill & Course Technology 9 Advantages of Using Industry Standard/Best-selling Products Industry standard product – Best software, hardware that are used by the market For example Windows XP and Microsoft Office Can reduce support costs Likely to be targeted by trade book publishers, training material developers, and support service vendors

by Anthony W. Hill & Course Technology 10 Disadvantages of Using Industry Standard/Best-selling Products May not meet unique requirements of end users with specialized needs Market leadership changes over time; potential for obsolescence

by Anthony W. Hill & Course Technology 11 Using Industry Standard or Best-selling Products Get user input before making software selection decision Find out which products end users have experience with Find out advantages and disadvantages of competing products for specific tasks Find out whether users have preferences among products

by Anthony W. Hill & Course Technology 12 Products Competitors Use Analyse the strengths and weaknesses of products that competitors use Competitors may have thoroughly researched the market and identified strategic reasons for adopting the computer products they use Niche market – Vertical market, is subset of the market which specifies on certain product for example automobile insurance

by Anthony W. Hill & Course Technology 13 Benchmarks An objective test used to compare competing products in terms of speed, storage, software performance Popular because they are objective and provide an unbiased evaluation of a product Objective evaluation criteria - Measurable factors that are not influenced by personal opinion Extraneous variables – variables that can effect the result of a benchmark test

by Anthony W. Hill & Course Technology 14 Weighted Point Evaluation Method Uses evaluation criteria of predefined importance to arrive at a numerical score for each product Goal is to make the evaluation/selection process as objective as possible by: Treating competing products equally Eliminating possible favouritism or bias among evaluators Forcing evaluators to specify in advance the important factors in evaluation

by Anthony W. Hill & Course Technology 15 Mechanics of the Weighted Point Evaluation Method Decide on the evaluation criteria. Decide on the importance of each criterion. Rate each competing product on all the evaluation criteria. If more than one evaluator rates products, compute the average rating for each product for each criterion. Weight the product ratings for each criterion by the importance of the criterion. Compute the total rating for each product. Compare product ratings.

by Anthony W. Hill & Course Technology 16 Example : Evaluate 2 antivirus product CriterionWeight Kaspersky Anti Virus McAfee Antivirus Hardware Configuration 20%90 x 20% = 1870 x 20% = 14 Software features30%70 x 30% = 2150 x 30% = 15 Vendor Support20%50 x 20% = 1090 x 20% = 18 Cost30%60 x 30% = 1850 x 30% = 15 TOTAL100%67/100 = 67%62/100 = 62% Kaspersky antivirus scores high in Hardware Configuration, Software features and also cost. This product should be purchased based on Weight Point Evaluation Method

by Anthony W. Hill & Course Technology 17 The Request for Proposal (RFP) RFP - A product selection or competitive bidding procedure that uses objective criteria to distinguish among products proposed by vendors Often used as the basis for awarding a contract to provide computer products One of the most common and most objective decision-making tools

by Anthony W. Hill & Course Technology 18 8 Steps in the RFP Process 1. Conduct a user needs analysis 2. Develop a purchase specification for the equipment or software 3. Define a decision criteria and importance of each criterion 4. Write the RFP document, which describes the user requirements, bidding procedure and decision criteria 5. Send the RFP doc to prospective vendor 6. Receive written proposal from interested vendor (with specs and bidding price) 7. Analyse the responses, evaluate using weighted point evaluation method. 8. Select a vendor and award the purchase contract.

by Anthony W. Hill & Course Technology 19 Subjective Evaluation Criteria Are based on personal relationships, convenience, personal preferences, and traditional practices Do not give much weight to the match between end user needs and the features of the hardware or software Are neither measurable nor repeatable

by Anthony W. Hill & Course Technology 20 Computer Product Standards Help control user support costs by limiting the number of hardware and software options users can choose Often adopted by larger companies with a substantial investment in computer technology because the potential for waste is so large

by Anthony W. Hill & Course Technology 21 How Companies Develop Computer Product Standards Company culture and traditions Product standards committee: Composed of support specialists and end users whose task is to define the current company standards and coordinate their use in the company

by Anthony W. Hill & Course Technology 22 Requirements for Computer Product Standards Effective Evenly administered Enforced

by Anthony W. Hill & Course Technology 23 How Companies Implement Computer Product Standards Adoption and implementation of product and service standards influenced by: Investment in existing hardware and software Continual arrival of new products, services, and product upgrades Loss of employee productivity during conversion to new standards

by Anthony W. Hill & Course Technology 24 Adopting or Modifying Technology Standards Requires analysis and evaluation of products and services Triggers potential support cost increases for installation, upgrades, training, documentation, trouble-shooting, and help desk services